Sayl Stool

Living unframed

Sayl Stool

Inspired by suspension bridges – structures that deliver the most using the least material – Sayl stools extend the distinctive look of the Yves Béhar-designed Sayl chair into settings that feature high tables or counters. The elastomer strands of the stool’s 3D Intelligent back support you as you stretch and move, striking a healthy balance between support and freedom.

Design Story

We asked designer Yves Béhar to design a highly affordable chair that would incorporate everything Herman Miller is known for – beautiful design, first-class ergonomics, elegant engineering and respect for the environment.

Suspending a chair

Béhar, who calls San Francisco home, began by looking at designs that deliver the most with the least. And then he took a look at his city's best-known landmark: the Golden Gate Bridge. Béhar wondered, could the engineering principles of a suspension bridge be applied to a chair?

The notion of using a suspension tower to support an unframed suspension back meant that the flexible elastomer suspension material could be stretched in a way that provided the greatest tension at points where support is needed and the least in areas that would allow for the most expansive range of motion.

Something unique

So why “Sayl”, rather than, say, “Bridge”? Take a look at the chair from the side. See the resemblance to a full mainsail? The name reflects the sailing vessels that pass beneath the bridges that inspired the original design. Replacing the “i” in “sail” with a “y” is a nod to the innovative Y-Tower structure of the work chair.